The invention relates generally to suturing instruments for passing needled sutures.
An increasing number of surgical techniques are now performed arthroscopically to reduce trauma associated with large incisions generally required in open surgery. Arthroscopic surgery involves manipulating a surgical instrument from outside the body, while viewing the surgical site with an arthroscope, with both the instrument and arthroscope passed through small incisions or portals of the body. The surgical instrument is often placed through an appropriately sized cannula which extends from the portal to the surgical site to facilitate maneuvering of the surgical instrument.
Arthroscopic surgery is commonly performed at the joints of the body, for example, in repairing the meniscus of the knee or the rotator cuff and Bankart tendon in the shoulder. In such procedures, suture is used to stitch and reattach torn cartilage, tendons or ligaments to tissue or bone.
One approach for arthroscopically stitching a needled suture utilizes a suturing forceps having lower and upper jaws. The needled suture is positioned within the lower jaw and the jaws are closed by pivotal actuation to punch the needled suture from the lower jaw to the upper jaw and through the tissue being sutured.